Although Boston has extended the deadline for its Building Emissions Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance, or BERDO, for three months, to Aug. 15, building owners and operators who’ve yet to finalize their submissions and third-party verifications should act now. 

The new reporting deadline provides additional runway, but the underlying requirements remain unchanged. Covered buildings must submit annual building energy and water data that’s been verified and assessed for compliance. 

Building operators who miss the deadline can be penalized and risk creating a backlog of costly sustainability upgrades — while additional legislation to improve building performance moves forward. 

Emissions reduction

BERDO sets requirements for large buildings to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. It applies to residential buildings of 15 or more units, nonresidential buildings of 20,000 square feet or larger and any property portfolio that, combined, is 20,000 square feet or more or 15 units or more. 

Operators of these buildings must report annual energy and water consumption and meet emissions limits that will become more restrictive over time. The goal is for buildings to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

By the new deadline, building operators must submit — and have verified by a qualified third-party professional — total building energy and water use from the previous calendar year. Building performance data will be made publicly available.

Missing the submission deadline could result in daily fines of $150 for smaller buildings (20,000–34,999 square feet or 15–34 units) and $300 for larger buildings (35,000+square feet or 35+ units).

Submission and verification

For building operators, the first step is to collect data on water use and all types of energy each building uses. The data can come from bills or by aggregating data from building energy meters. Utility companies in Boston, including Eversource, National Grid and Vicinity Energy, can provide energy meter data as an Excel file. 

Building operators must submit this information, along with key characteristics for each building, to the federal government’s ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, or ESPM. Once it’s in the ESPM account, the data can be automatically pulled into the account the building operator has with the city.

Building operators also must complete a BERDO reporting form and file it through the city’s reporting portal, which captures data beyond the ESPM submission.  

Third-party verification must be completed by a qualified verifier. They’re required to submit their findings to the city prior to the Aug. 15 deadline. Once the first year’s report is submitted, third-party verification is required once every five years.

For larger buildings, Aug. 15 is the first emissions compliance deadline as well as the first data reporting deadline. For these buildings, operators need not only to submit their buildings’ verified energy data; their buildings’ energy-based carbon emissions must be under a certain threshold based on the building type.  

Compliance tools

Once building operators have uploaded their data, they can use a BERDO emissions calculator provided by the city to view their building’s emissions projections and plan their emissions reduction steps. The tool is best suited for use with single buildings, not building portfolios. 

The city is also offering free data reporting and verification services to building owners who self-manage residential buildings, are small nonprofit owners and who own commercial buildings with small-business tenants. The funding is limited, and owners need to apply. 

Other resources the city offers are a building decarbonization program, where energy specialists create a “Zero Over Time” plan for building owners to save energy, upgrade systems and use renewable energy, and an equitable emission investment fund, which makes grants available each year to help owners pay for decarbonization projects. Applications for this year’s funding are closed.

Solutions  

Without a doubt, BERDO can be overwhelming. Some owners might have limited knowledge about their building’s energy consumption and might already be facing deferred maintenance. The program also requires owners to balance their capital planning with possible program-related building fixes or fines.

To make it easier, the program includes measures that enable eligible owners to adjust their emissions limits and/or emissions reduction timelines. 

There are four flexibility offerings: 

• The blended emissions standard applies to buildings with multiple primary uses and might allow increased emissions limits.
• The building portfolio measure creates a portfolio-level emissions standard — rather than measuring emissions building-by-building — that could allow a longer emissions reduction timeline. 
• The individual compliance schedule uses historical emissions to plan a customized emissions reduction timeline, and it might allow an adjustment to emissions obligations based on building operations. 
• The hardship compliance plan allows alternative emissions reduction timelines and/or flexible emission reduction targets for buildings demonstrating technical or financial hardship. 

Deadlines to apply for the flexibility measures vary. Details about the measures are available online. 

Energy management organizations are another resource. They can assist with energy consumption analysis, ensure data is accurate and appropriately verified, predict the amount of any fines and estimate when buildings will be out of compliance. 

Staying ahead of the curve

Although BERDO can pose difficulties for building owners, it’s an opportunity for owners with properties that aren’t subject to the law to explore their own emissions reporting. They can replace equipment in their buildings, adopt “greener” energy sources like solar panels and heat pumps and start decarbonizing their emissions. 

BERDO is not about checking boxes; it’s a catalyst for building owners to make thoughtful choices about their properties and the environment.